Ep278 Jeff Radke Accelerant: Speed matters

Today’s guest is someone who is running a business that is moving so fast that every time he comes back on the show we have an enormous amount to talk about and this time it is no different. Today Jeff Radke CEO of Accelerant is talking to me after a transformational 12 months that has seen his young business continue its heightened growth and IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. At the Voice of Insurance we have been lucky enough to follow Accelerant’s story at first hand since Jeff’s first appearance four years ago. The proposition is as tantalising as it has always been. Good MGAs need stable capital, strong underwriting insights and ultra-efficient processes, while insurers, reinsurers and other capital providers want access to stable, diversified portfolios of profitable insurance risk on a meaningful scale. Accelerant’s job is to connect everything and everyone up and make sure everybody in the chain can make money and be happy. It sounds simple but in a highly-competitive regulated industry this can be anything but simple in practice. As Accelerant’s platform grows and becomes the conduit for low single digit billions in premium volume via over 250 member MGAs, it’s more mature state is coming into view. The business is evolving to become something far more like a genuine intelligent insurance exchange and underwriting management platform than a mere fronting or hybrid carrier. This conversation is the best and most transparent I have had with Jeff so far. Talking to Jeff, it’s easy to see why so much business has flowed in Accelerant’s direction. Jeff has had huge tech-enabled trends on his side, but he also has charisma in abundance, but then so do many in our business. It’s only when that charisma is combined with the deep knowledge of someone who has sat at almost all points of the insurance and capital value chain in his career that it becomes such a powerful combination. Listen on – this is a very rich conversation that I can highly recommend to anyone interested in what large swathes of insurance market are going to look like over the next decade and beyond LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com